November 6, 2003

Riverside, CA – Warren C. Trenchard, Ph.D., La Sierra University Director of Graduate Programs and Professor of New Testament and Early Christian Literature, published the Concise Dictionary of New Testament Greek with Cambridge University Press in July, 2003.

The project started in 1990 with a database of Greek vocabulary that was compiled to publish a Greek vocabulary textbook. Zondervan published this textbook in 1992, The Students Complete Vocabulary Guide to the Greek New Testament. “The book was revised in 1998 and is part of a suite of books published by Zondervan on Greek and Hebrew languages,” says Trenchard.

“This is a thorough, exhaustive analysis of the Greek New Testament vocabulary,” says John Jones, Ph.D., Dean at La Sierra University’s School of Religion. “ This will prove to be an indispensable resource for Christian students, scholars and pastors. This new book is typical of Warren’s work, and I really respect what he has done.”

The newly published Concise Dictionary of New Testament Greek is a standard dictionary in alphabetical order, adds Trenchard, who started writing the vocabulary books while teaching at Canadian Union College in Canada. “I felt the tools to teach vocabulary were adequate but not complete,” he said. “It took two years to create the database for the books.”

“There are around 5,430 Greek words in the New Testament,” adds Trenchard, who says he used FileMaker software to sort the data. “The Greek words have embedded Greeks words within their meaning or definition many times and this created some confusion in the transfer.”

Trenchard says there is a third component. He would like to complete a computer based CD-ROM that has the whole Greek New Testament database that users can access in a variety of ways, says Trenchard.

Trenchard has taught since 1975 spending most of those years in the classroom and a few in academic administration. He teaches two classes per term at La Sierra and serves as the School of Religion Director of Graduate Programs.